Clemens nets 4th win as Astros top Rockies

Published 5:30 am, Sunday, April 25, 2004

DENVER -- On the first day of the season, Roger Clemens approached the Astros' relievers to make it clear he would lean on them. At 41 and in his 21st season, "The Rocket" has carried his burden well in his first year with his hometown team.

"I think it's really nice," Clemens said after putting Wade Miller in position to sweep the three-game series today in the finale. "Gaylord is a tremendous pitcher. ...

"It's pretty gratifying when you guys write my name alongside some of the other great ones that have come through here and have played in the past. It just really makes me feel proud. A lot of guys I watched and learned about my first couple of years in the league, so it's been a long time coming."

Clemens wouldn't be 4-0 without his efforts, but he needed help combating the hitter-friendly environment in his shortest outing of the season.

"It's just tough," Clemens said after giving up nine hits, three home runs and five runs (four earned) with three walks and seven strikeouts over 5 innings. "You just want to minimize your mistakes. I was moving the ball around in that zone as best you can. I got hurt by two bad splits. I got underneath both of them, and that's what happens when you get underneath a ball here. If they get good wood on it, it's going to go. Both splits left the ballpark, but yet I think I threw five or six other ones, and I think I got two crucial strikeouts."

Leading 2-1, the Astros began pulling away while sending 10 batters to the plate in the five-run third, which Clemens capped with a broken-bat, two-run single to left.

Although the switch-hitting Lance Berkman was batting from his weaker right side, Fassero intentionally walked him to load the bases and face the struggling Morgan Ensberg. The move paid off because Ensberg was called out on strikes.

Jose Vizcaino kept the rally going, with an RBI single to right. After Brad Ausmus popped up to catcher Charles Johnson in foul territory for the second out, Clemens ripped his two-run single to left.

"It's not what I'm here to do," Clemens said of hitting. "We work hard on it in our down days that we're not doing our bullpens and whatnot. But we work hard on it. You're trying to see the ball and make contact. That's the bottom line, especially when you're walking up there and you know you have the opportunity to swing the bat."

The Rockies charged back when Todd Helton led off the bottom of the third by sending a 1-1 splitter nearly 432 feet for a home run over the center-field wall. One out later, Johnson ripped a 1-0 fastball over the right-field wall.

Matt Holliday followed with a single up the middle. Clemens got out of the inning when Kit Pellow struck out and Ausmus threw out Holliday attempting to steal second base for a strikeout-throw-out double play.

"We were able to get out of a few jams," Clemens said. "You can't let it eat at you. You're going to give up home runs. You're going to give up base hits. Guys are going to go first to third here because of the spacious outfield."

One out after Holliday's home run, Luis Gonzalez singled to left. Clemens induced a grounder to the mound from pinch hitter Rene Reyes for the second out, but he was lifted after walking Denny Hocking.

Miceli took over, and Royce Clayton greeted him with a bunt single to load the bases. Miceli escaped by inducing Helton's fly out to center.

Berkman got a run back with a leadoff home run over the right-field wall in the seventh. After Miceli struck out the side in the seventh, he led off the eighth with a single up the middle for his second career hit.

"Roger certainly battled and just showed what kind of competitor he is in some adverse circumstances," Berkman said. "But you got to take your hat off to the bullpen."

Maybe so, but Clemens is the one climbing the all-time victories list.

"It's good to be around a guy like Clemens and to learn from him," said Miceli, who threw 2 scoreless innings. "He's a great competitor, great arm, great pitcher and a great man."

Astros summary

Monday will be the Astros' third day off this month, and Williams has taken advantage to give Roy Oswalt, Roger Clemens and Wade Miller extra rest.

"The fifth guy saves the other four," Williams said. "If you go with five, you save the other four so they can stay healthy. ... I stay in rotation because I say, `That extra day plus the fifth starter is going to allow those other guys, whoever they are, to go out there hopefully 30-plus times.' "

As a practice, Williams doesn't like to skip his starters unless they need extra rest, or if a rainout would mean most of the starters would pitch on their seventh day if a another starter wasn't skipped.

Williams would prefer to put that fifth starter in the bullpen for a span of 10 days than have his other four starters pitch on too much rest.

Whatever the case, don't expect to see a four-man rotation.

"I don't put numbers on our starters," Williams said. "They just start. Opening day was Oswalt. Then it was (Andy) Pettitte. And then, is Clemens a No. 3? Is that why he started third? I don't know. Somebody has to start first and somebody has to pitch fifth.

"Anyway, in my opinion, to go back to four starters they would have to start it in the lower minor leagues. They would have to start in rookie ball and continue throughout the system, the farm system, so that they could get their arms conditioned to pitch every fourth day.

"I could remember Baltimore in the '80s when I was a coach in Toronto, they had nine pitchers (on the staff). They had a four-man rotation and five relievers. You have to have five relievers. You cannot go with less than five relievers.

"What you go from there, whether you have four starters or five starters is entirely up to the type of pitcher that you have. If you go with a four-man rotation, those starters are going to have to go deep into the game. And they're going to have to be pitch-efficient. They never used to really count pitches."

Good riddance

While watching the NFL draft, the Astros were as tough on former Mississippi quarterback Eli Manning as the fans in New York and Chicago when he was drafted No. 1 by the San Diego Chargers.

None of the Astros had any tolerance for Manning's insistence that he would sit out a year if the Chargers drafted him. Catcher Brad Ausmus was most disgusted with Manning.

"Eli Manning should be embarrassed about how this whole thing came about," said Ausmus, a San Diego resident who has held Chargers season tickets for six years. "He's certainly not going to be welcomed in San Diego. Who does he think he is, honestly? He should be thankful somebody drafted him."

Ausmus was pleased with the package San Diego received from the New York Giants for Manning.

"Yes, it was an excellent move," Ausmus said. "I didn't want him there in the first place."

Ensberg starts

Third baseman Morgan Ensberg was back in the starting lineup Saturday for the first time since Tuesday. He went 1-for-5, raising his average from .154 to .159 on a day he stranded five runners.

Ensberg singled up the middle in his first at-bat to lead off the second inning, but he struck out with the bases loaded in the third. He lined out to short to strand two runners in the fourth.

Different world

Watching all the slick suits on the NFL draftees brought back memories for Jeff Bagwell, a fourth-round pick of the Boston Red Sox in baseball's 1989 draft.

"I was just thankful I was drafted," he said. "Never mind that I was drafted by my favorite team. What surprises me are all those suits the guys are wearing. I was wearing my dad's blazer, his old shoes and some tired jeans."

The old blazer, shoes and jeans served as Bagwell's outfit for his first trip with the Astros as a major-leaguer, not as a college prospect being drafted by the Red Sox.

"I was poor, man," he said. "I didn't have a suit."

Pettitte fine

Andy Pettitte, who is on the disabled list with a strained left elbow, played catch for five minutes Saturday morning in preparation for a bullpen session today.

Pettitte didn't have any setbacks a day after he threw five innings in a rehab start in an extended spring training game at Osceola County Stadium (Fla).

If all goes well after the bullpen session today, Pettitte would remain in line to come off the DL and start Thursday against the Pirates at PNC Park.